Romain Grosjean felt it was a positive Qualifying session for the Haas F1 Team on Saturday as both he and team-mate Kevin Magnussen locked out the third row of the grid at the Hockenheimring.
Unfortunately for Grosjean, a mistake on his final quick lap prevented him from having an opportunity to improve on his time of 1:12.544s, which enabled his team-mate to jump ahead of him in the final results, but fifth and sixth marked a good return for Haas, who are aiming to take the fight to the Renault Sport Formula One Team in the Constructors’ Championship.
“It was a pretty good session,” said Grosjean. “We just need to see what happened on my last run. I went wide on turn one, so we just have analyze that.
“We couldn’t do the second push lap in Q3, unfortunately, but all in all, it was a good session. I’m really happy for the team. On a track were we were not sure we’d be competitive, we’ve been good. We’re right up there, so that’s very encouraging.”
Grosjean feels Haas will not mind if conditions on Sunday are cooler than what was seen during Friday practice, amid concerns over overheating tyres, and they are hopeful of a good haul of points.
Should the Frenchman finish inside the top ten on Sunday, it will be only his second points finish of the year, with his first coming with a fourth place finish in the Austrian Grand Prix at the beginning of the month.
“We’ll see what the weather’s like Sunday,” said the Frenchman. “There’s a bit of uncertainty about that, but I don’t think we’ll mind cooler conditions.
“I think we’re in a good place for tomorrow.”
